The present invention pertains to mounting brackets including more particularly to low profile mounting brackets for use with antenna systems.
Wireless communication systems most often employ the use of xe2x80x9ccellxe2x80x9d technology, where a base station or other transceiver is dedicated to a specific geographic area. After accessing a base station, wireless customers are then connected to a communications network, such as a publicly switched telephone network (PSTN) or a data network such as a corporate LAN.
To provide complete coverage over an entire metropolitan area or geographic region, base stations must be installed at frequent and regular intervals. The need for such a regular array of base stations often necessitates that they be placed in conspicuous locations.
Since communication base stations require an antenna system to transmit and receive information to a wireless customer, the antenna often needs to be placed where there are no obstructions that will interfere with its operation. Optimizing the antenna performance often requires placing the antenna on the side of a building or on top of a tall pole or mast. Particularly in urban settings, crowded geographic regions, and residential areas, the need to install a large number of base stations and their associated antennas is typically at odds with the desire of a municipality to reduce the clutter and obtrusiveness of industrial installations and unsightly electrical and communications equipment. Local municipalities may have strict zoning regulations which can interfere with or even prohibit a communications company from installing wireless equipment in a location that interferes with the aesthetic characteristics of the city or town. To operate at optimum effectiveness, a direct line of sight between the antenna and the communications device is preferred. This usually requires a conspicuous installation.
Antennas associated with communications systems may sometimes require field adjustments so that the directivity of the antenna can be modified to optimize its performance. New structures, additional base stations, or changing electromagnetic interference can alter the performance of an antenna system, requiring the orientation of an antenna to be changed from time to time. Consequently, it is beneficial to install an antenna so that the orientation of the antenna can be altered quickly and with minimum effort.
Known mounting brackets which can pivot or rotate do not address the need to keep the antenna as inconspicuous as possible. Since these brackets typically only pivot about a fixed point, the distance an antenna projects from its mounting surface is substantially increased. Typically, the larger the pivot angle, the more the antenna projects from the mounting surface. Known mounting brackets which try to reduce their projection distance are restricted in their pivoting range. To enable known mounting brackets to effectively pivot an antenna through a complete 180xc2x0 arc generally requires that the mounting bracket be extremely bulky and obtrusive. Particularly when an antenna, base station or other communication device is mounted to the side of a building, known mounting brackets can cause the device to protrude significantly from the mounting surface. Even slight increases in this projection distance tends to make the device more noticeable, may result in violations of local zoning regulations, and may ultimately interfere with the ability of a communications company to install the device in the proper location.
When mounting an antenna to the side of a building it is therefore desired to achieve a near flush mounting while still maintaining the ability to aim or direct the antenna across a wide range of angles.
The present invention solves the foregoing problems by providing a low profile, multi angle, adjustable mounting bracket. Thus, the mounting bracket of the present invention allows an antenna to be secured to a mounting surface and rotated through a substantially 180xc2x0 arc with minimal protrusion from the mounting surface.
In one aspect of the present invention, the mounting bracket comprises a bracket support and a rotational slide support. The rotational slide support provides two degrees of freedom in its adjustment by allowing both rotation and translation about a single point on the bracket support.
In a preferred embodiment, the mounting bracket comprises a bracket support including a base plate, a bracket wall, and a clampable, pivoting slide mechanism. The preferred mounting bracket also comprises a rotational slide support including a mounting plate, a slide wall, and a channel in the slide wall. Preferably, the clampable, pivoting slide mechanism is engaged within the slide wall channel.